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An actuatable ionogel thermoelectric fiber with aligned mesogens-induced thermopower for four-dimensional dynamically adaptive heat harvesting

Author

Listed:
  • Liuqi Cao

    (Donghua University)

  • Tingting Sun

    (Donghua University)

  • Huiru Zhao

    (Donghua University)

  • MengHan Shang

    (Donghua University)

  • Lianjun Wang

    (Donghua University
    Donghua University)

  • Wan Jiang

    (Donghua University
    Donghua University)

Abstract

Thermoelectric (TE) ionogel have emerged as promising materials for harvesting low-grade heat owing to their flexibility and giant thermopower. However, current high-performance TE ionogel requires multi-component systems, resulting in trade-offs between TE performance, mechanics, and ion leakage risk. Moreover, the humidity-dependent thermopower and two-dimensional device architectures restrict their practical applications. Here, a thermally actuated TE ionogel fiber is designed by tailoring the interactions between liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) network and ionic liquid. Fine tuning the mesogen orientation of LCE network ensures ~3-fold thermopower boost (25.8 mV K−1) and ~30-fold electrical conductivity boom (21.5 mS m−1) at low humidity (

Suggested Citation

  • Liuqi Cao & Tingting Sun & Huiru Zhao & MengHan Shang & Lianjun Wang & Wan Jiang, 2025. "An actuatable ionogel thermoelectric fiber with aligned mesogens-induced thermopower for four-dimensional dynamically adaptive heat harvesting," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-12, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-60103-x
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-60103-x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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